The Minstrel's Ballad: Nidhogg's Rage
The Great Hunt
- Level
- 70 (Sync: 70)
- Item Level
- 320
- Difficulty
- Normal
- Party size
- Full Party
8 man • 2
2 
4 
- Unsyncing
- Allowed
- Time limit
- 60 minutes
- Roulette
- Trials
- Tomestones
10 - Req. quest
The New King on the Block- Patch
- 4.36
“The Hunt has always been simple business. Snatch a bill from the board, seek out your quarry, and claim your bounty. A peculiar posting in Kugane, however, has complicated matters. What began as a simple hunt in the Azim Steppe has quickly escalated into a harrowing undertaking, with a strange new Felyne companion, and even stranger prey -- Rathalos, king of the skies. With mega potion in hand, you venture into the mountains. But do you have what it takes to stand against his fiery fury?
— In-game description
The Great Hunt is a level 70 trial introduced in patch 4.36 with Stormblood.
The King of the Skies
Eorzea and its inhabitants must contend with a migrating Rathalos that has been using the Azim Steppe as its feeding ground. With the help of a purr-sistant Felyne (Palico) companion, players are tasked with tracking Rathalos to its den and putting an end to the fearsome wyvern before it wreaks havoc on the local ecosystem.
The fight itself contains multiple Monster Hunter: World mechanics that make it very unique to Final Fantasy XIV. For starters, Rathalos cannot be tanked, and there are very few telegraphed attacks, most of which will be executed in a random order against random players without the usual visual indicators. As a result, participants must pay attention to Rathalos and react accordingly to each of its attacks, indicated solely by its animations.
In addition, all party members come equipped with 10 Mega Potions that can heal the player to max health after a short drinking animation. Furthermore, Rathalos is capable of poisoning players with its claws and can also stun players who take too many direct hits. Lastly, a "Down Counter" will be present throughout the final phase of the fight, which will gradually fill up with each use of a cooldown against Rathalos. Once filled, Rathalos will be knocked down and left vulnerable for some time. During this, players can attempt to shatter its tail, inflicting substantial damage to Rathalos.
In Extreme mode, it is also possible to fail the battle outright if players are "carted" (KO'd) three times.
Once Rathalos has been defeated in either mode, the head and tail can be 'carved' for Rathalos Scales - a currency used to purchase Monster Hunter themed cosmetics or even a Rathalos mount. Players can also acquire their very own Poogie and Felyne (Palico) minions.
Dialogue
Felyne: You did it! You slew the meownster!
Felyne: Don't forget to carve a scale or two off his hide.
Rathalos's Phases & Abilities
There are three distinct phases during the Great Hunt - a grounded phase, an add phase and a flying phase - two of which involve Rathalos utilizing various attacks in a random order against a random target (with a few exceptions). In phase three, Rathalos will take to the skies rather than fight on the ground, yet most of the attacks it uses will be somewhat similar to its grounded phase.
Phase 1: Grounded
Enmity is not present in this fight, meaning that Rathalos cannot be 'tanked' at any point during the encounter. Instead, Rathalos will rotate between a set of ground-based attacks against randomly chosen players, most of which have no visual indicators or markers. All players must keep an eye on where Rathalos is facing and what animation it is performing if they wish to avoid its relentless onslaught.
- Tail Swipe is indicated by Rathalos looking to its side and menacingly raising its tail. After a brief delay, Rathalos will swing its tail in a 180-degree motion. Immediately after this, Rathalos will perform another 180-degree sweep after a short delay in the same direction as the first. Anyone caught in the path of a Tail Swipe will receive moderate damage and a massive knockback, as well as a chance of being stunned. To avoid this, players should check which side Rathalos is looking at during the wind-up animation and move to the other side (or away) as quickly as possible.
- Charging Bite is a rush-attack indicated by Rathalos turning towards a player (regardless of distance) and performing a brief roar-like animation. After a short delay, Rathalos will then lunge directly at that player with a vicious bite, be they near or far. All players caught in the path of the charge itself will be inflicted with moderate damage and knockback, as well as a chance of being stunned. To avoid it, players should watch out for the brief wind-up animation and side-step out of its path as soon as possible.
- Fireball is indicated by an overhead marker on the target player and is one of the few telegraphed attacks Rathalos uses. After rearing up for a few seconds, Rathalos will expel an unavoidable fireball at the marked player, inflicting moderate AoE damage in a small area, as well as a dispellable burns debuff. Players with the marker should move away from the party to avoid inflicting unnecessary damage to others.
- Flaming Breath is indicated by Rathalos raising its head with noticeable flames billowing around its mouth. After a short delay, Rathalos will blast the area directly in front of it with fire while simultaneously swiping the area behind it with its tail, damaging and knocking back anyone directly in front or behind Rathalos. To avoid this stun-capable attack, players can either move out of range entirely or move to Rathalos' flanks (sides).
Rathalos will continuously target random players and use these abilities in no particular order until the final phase. Once Rathalos has been reduced to around 80% health, the add phase will begin.
Phase 2: Adds
For the most part, phase two is almost identical to phase one, except now the party must contend with some of the local wildlife joining the fray. On entering the arena, various types of adds will initially begin attacking Rathalos. Unlike Rathalos, however, these adds are effected by enmity and can be tanked. It is worth noting that Rathalos' attacks will also damage these adds (and vice-versa); thus a good method is to grab all the stray adds and tank them close to Rathalos so that they damage each other.
After being reduced to around 70% health, Rathalos will head towards the centre of the arena and begin roaring. Simultaneously, a large Garula will enter the arena from the east side and charge into Rathalos after a short wind-up animation, knocking it down. From here, Garula will begin attacking the party and must be picked up by a tank as soon as possible. At the same time, Rathalos will become 'mountable', prompting a player to leap onto its back and repeatedly stab it via an active time event.
This series of events serves as a DPS check. If the party does not mount Rathalos in time or fails to kill the Garula fast enough, Rathalos will wipe the raid by escaping the arena and obliterating it with a massive flaming attack. It is possible to kill the Garula without mounting Rathalos, though this will require very high DPS.
- Bear in mind that the player who mounts Rathalos will take continuous damage-over-time and will require frequent healing. If the player who has mounted Rathalos is reduced to 0 HP, the party will wipe. In addition, the Garula's auto-attacks are incredibly vicious, even against tanks, and it will also perform a frequent frontal AoE cleave for massive damage; thus it is best to face it away from the party.
Assuming the Garula has been defeated in time and a party member has successfully mounted Rathalos without being KO'd, Rathalos will leave the arena and prepare to bombard it in flames. This time, however, players can safely stand behind the Garula's corpse to avoid being slain by the blast, initiating the final phase of the encounter.
Phase 3: Flying
After Rathalos has bathed the arena in flames, the background music will change, and the outer-arena will receive a flaming makeover. All players will now receive a debuff – Scalebound – which will reduce all healing received by players to 0 (except Mega Potions). As a result, each player should consider drinking a Mega Potion if their HP reaches medium or low levels.
From here on, Rathalos will assault players from the air, and a "Down Counter" will be displayed in the form of a Duty Guage. This will gradually fill up any time a cooldown is used against Rathalos. Once filled, Rathalos will be knocked out of the air and remain prone for a period of time, giving players the opportunity to attack (and eventually break) its tail, inflicting substantial damage to Rathalos. Conversely, Rathalos' overall defence will be much higher while in the air, but not when downed; hence players must try to knock Rathalos down repeatedly and perform as much damage as possible while it is vulnerable.
Much like the previous phases, Rathalos will continuously attack random players with various abilities in no particular order and with limited visual indicators.
- Claw Swipe is another rush attack similar to Charging Bite. After turning towards a random player (regardless of distance) and elevating slightly, Rathalos will swoop at that player with its claws after a brief delay. Players slashed by Rathalos' claws will be inflicted with a dispellable poison, a brief stun, moderate damage and a knockback. Just like Charging Bite, players can avoid this attack by side-stepping out of the way.
- Mangle and Sweeping Flames are frontal-cone AoE's, indicated by Rathalos rearing its head and displaying its flaming mouth for a brief moment. To avoid these, players can either move behind Rathalos, move to its flank, or move out of range entirely.
- Fireball, unlike phase 1, will now become a stack marker rather than an individual marker. Furthermore, Rathalos will spit three consecutive fireballs at the selected player back-to-back, each one leaving behind a persistent puddle of flame on the ground that will inflict burns on everyone sharing the damage and anyone who passes through them afterwards.
Players must consider grouping together to share the damage and will very likely need to drink a Max Potion to heal up during this mechanic.
However, if this ability targets a tank instead of a healer or damage-dealer, the tank may choose to mitigate all three fireballs by themselves using defensive cooldowns and a Max Potion. Despite healers being unable to heal other players during this final phase, they can still use Esuna to remove burns.
This cycle of events will repeat until Rathalos is defeated (or the party wipes).
Loot
Rathalos
| Name | Type | Item Level | Rarity | Quantity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Rathalos Scale 
|
Material | N/A | Basic | 2 |